Mad Max: Fury Road Review

With the summer film season of 2015 in full swing and The Avengers craze starting to wind down, it is time for many film-goers to look forward to what lies over the horizon.  The next film to come careening over the hills in high speed and a hard kick in the face is George Miller’s highly anticipated and directorial return to films as well as the series that inspired the action genre for decades now called Mad Max: Fury Road.  It has been about 30 years since the last adventure with the lone wanderer and here comes another adventure set within that post-apocalyptic universe with Tom Hardy in the lead role this time along with a strong, well developed supporting cast to provide the conflict and drama for this film.  It is a stirring, inspiring return to the series with imaginative designs to action, sets, and costumes as well as straightforward, intense pacing to the editing that makes this one of the most exhilarating fun chase films you will see all year.  Does it measure up to the hype surrounding the film or does it have a few dirt spots that hold it back from being a bonafide classic? Well, let’s see how the Road Warrior has been managing since his absences all those decades ago.

The story for this film is about as simple yet layered in details through the visuals immersing us into the culture and mindset of the world these characters live in.  It seems to take place in between the series but doesn’t commit to any sort of continuity and instead, presents a new adventure that happens to feature Max (Tom Hardy) in it.  He is run down and captured by members of the gang called War Boys where an enthusiastic and determined member of the gang named Nux (Nicholas Hoult) uses him as a blood bag as they are lead by the tyrant cult leader known as Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne who returns as another villain in this series previously as Toe-Cutter in the 1979 original revenge classic).  This leads to Furiosa (Charlize Theron) driving an armored truck filled with cargo for a routine route to retrieve gas, allowing her to betray the group for her real mission, to get a cargo of concubines away from the gang and to a safe haven with Max dragged along and ending up being a part of the struggle to fight and survive in a relentless chase to search for a new home.

It seems paper thin on the surface but there are some very deep, profound emotional themes and arcs explored here particularly in searching for a place to call home and of the necessity for idealized birth to insure the future longevity of their tribe.  These themes are expressed through the character arcs within Furiosa and Nux who experience the emotional conflicts and challenges of these themes head on in different ways that fit within their written roles in the story.  As for Max, he seems to be in the same role as the last 2 films where he moves the adventure along and carries along the group in unexpected ways that are reminisce of the heroic qualities he once displayed in his youth.   The flashback do feel out of place at times and seem to be loaded with character changes and actions that Max may have done in the last 3 films but it never really brings about anything interesting in the main plot and serves to be nothing more than a footnote to re-acquaint us with the character.  Despite the odd approach to re-introducing and developing Max himself for both old and newcomers into the series, this is an action film on the surface but it is a grand, epic adventure story that has the characters go through hell and back searching for a home with Max helping out along the way.

Even with all of these elements in motion and on point, it won’t matter if the performances aren’t up to snuff but in this case, there are some truly fantastic, memorable performances in the entire cast despite at least one unremarkable effort from a lead character.  The heart and soul of this story resides in two of the characters with Furiosa played by Charlize Theron with such a commanding gusto and confidence as well as her capability to handle the emotional arc of this character extremely well.  This is supplemented even more by Nicholas Hoult’s performance as Nux by providing a fanatical yet sympathetic and tragic quality to his character as well as going through the most drastic changes that makes him quite memorable in the role.  The villains throughout are truly magnificently vicious and creatively designed but the main baddie Joe played by Hugh Keays-Byrne is absolutely captivating in playing a crazed, tyrannical leader in search of his concubine and further adds a great sense of threat to the film.  The only performance that didn’t resonate with me as a viewer is Tom Hardy as Max who portrays the physical and survival prowess of the character with ease but lacks any form of personable charm that Mel Gibson exuded in the role many years ago.  That could be down to the script not giving him much to work with or his character being an afterthought but that point that is being made here is that he does admirable job with the character but is not given much room or time to make the character into his own that Gibson had for about 3 films.  Otherwise, the cast is relatively strong throughout with the well thought, empathetic arcs and motives for the characters with actors giving it their all other than Hardy’s commendable if underwhelming take on the iconic Road Warrior.

It is time to move away from the story and performance components of the film and into the meat of it, the technical aspects from action set pieces to the cinematography/art direction/editing/and music overall.  For the action sequences in this film, the best way to describe all of it in a nutshell is completely inventive and exhilarating insanity of fun to watch the spectacle unfold in front of your eyes.  It uses both practical and the right amount of CGI to create moments of wonder and excitement within the action set pieces that excite and draw us into the craziness of the world, thanks to the sharp editing and meticulously captured shots that really gives the action weight and believability unlike CGI fully induced action from other films.  This makes for some of the most exciting, creative action driven film to have been released this year alone involve total vehicular carnage and destruction to the max.  There is the matter of how it is staged and plotted throughout the entire film and it really is amazing to see an old fashioned director with no doubt a very skilled and synergized teams making all of this mayhem effortless 30 years after the fact.  It is a testament to the old and new ways of action films by finding that happy medium and satisfying everyone who sees this film by choice or chance.

This is also one of the most gorgeous films to watch in the vibrant use of the desert locales as well as CGI and digital matte painting to establish each of the homes of these tribes and different sections of the locale everyone ends up in.  The framing of the cameras is really thought out by giving enough space with the wide angle shots showcasing the world and far out designs of the raiders and their cars as well as a freaking guitar driven war chariot that is the most ridiculous yet awesome thing for anyone born of the 80’s to witness as the film progresses.  There are some really brilliantly crafted settings in what could have been a one note location with the cool use of color filters and lighting to truly flesh out the world surrounding these characters.  Each costume design is completely bonkers at times and all the more amazing for it as the villain Joe has this great, threatening warlord look to his costume along with the mask covering his face as well as a slew of other designs that are delightfully weird and grotesque in a very fun, entertaining sort of way.  Furiosa is also quite another design achievement in of itself with the blend with the rugged, war torn look for her overall costume with a very simple yet beautifully blended VFX (visual effect) of her missing arm to a robotic prosthetic arm that is just a great steam punkish look for her. Everyone else is designed appropriately to their characters as well as the concubines other than a few of them being meh in the roles while Max looks properly badass and threatening in his trademark, worn out leather getup about halfway to near the end of the film.  The artistic direction of this film is completely amazing and the attention that was giving to it really makes this world come to life.

It is also worth mentioning the use of editing in this film as well as the overall score of this film as there are few points to make about these technical elements.  It is very tight in the way the action set pieces are paced and escalate to absolute lunacy without feeling dragged out or even disjointing to see over an extended period of time since it makes up the majority of the runtime.  There is a stylized, evenly paced rhythm to the way the action scenes play out and the quiet, visual scenes tell the story of this world without having to exposit too much dialogue.  That is also another amazing achievement on display here where the emphasis on characters emotions, movement, and actions really informs us of who they are and how they live in this world allowing for the attentive film goer to really understand these characters emotionally rather than them stating this through on the nose dialogue thanks to the sharp editing on display for this film.  As for the score, it was functional and complements the action and visual story well enough but lacks the grand, bombastic orchestra of the original films particularly the second adventure The Road Warrior.  This is editing to a high standard and one to match for future action films to top in the years to come especially action films with vehicle chase done expertly and real enough to be jaw-dropping to watch.

That seems to be as much praise as you can give to a film that really displays the mesmerizing power of simplicity with its narrative story and structure.  It is about as remarkable as the second adventure in this series but also completely inventive and different enough to be another standout entry in Max’s adventure.  They properly avoid the downtime and slow pacing of the previous film Beyond Thunderdome and made the film fast, exciting, and fun to enjoy for any fan of the genre and series.  This is one relentless chase to achieve the goal with a path paved in the dangers and trails of hell over it and it serves as a memorable, astounding return for the lone wanderer known only as Max, The Road Warrior.

Score: ****1/2 out of *****  
This is an intensely exciting, insane adventure that delivers on the incredible, expertly crafted action set pieces and powerful, visual storytelling exuded by the sharp cinematography, editing, and the powerhouse of the cast that really make their characters remarkable.  Max is really the weak point but not because of the actor but the material given was not meaty enough for Tom Hardy to craft his own take on the character that Mel Gibson was given even in his first outing as the iconic anti-hero.  Thankfully, the supporting cast from Theron to Hoult are truly superb in their roles, providing memorable humane performances as well as the awesome villain hounding them throughout the film from Keays-Byrne returning in another captivating villainous turn after being Toecutter in the original film.  Mad Max: Fury Road is a stunning return for the character of Max and only time will tell if we will get another amazing entry from this adventure with maybe another film for Hardy to finally provide his own take on the Road Warrior himself.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron Review

(Minor Spoilers throughout the review discussing the characters and events in the film. For a summary, skip to the end for my overall thoughts on the film)

The summer film season is in full swing now and that means another superhero film to kick us off for 2015. This time, it's the highly anticipated, heavily hyped Marvel event film that serves as a sequel that legitimized this cinematic/shared universe in the Blockbuster formula of film-making known as "The Avengers" and this time, they are going up against a new villain known as Ultron (James Spader), a sentient AI program created by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) to protect the world only to instead commit to its utter annihilation. Does the magic of the first film carry on in this sequel or has it worn off a bit and exposed the kinks in this well crafted, successful comic book film phenomenon from Marvel? That is a question worth keeping in mind as the answer is quite tricky in this case.

This picks up right after the events of the first film (minor references to the events of the solo outings) with the heroes taking down a secret Hydra base as they obtain Loki's Scepter as well as Stark receiving "inspiration" to create an advanced Ai that can govern the world from any possible threat which is a familiar plot line from another Marvel film (deja-vuing to Winter Soldier). Unfortunately, the AI short circuits and evolves into Ultron who sees all of humanity as a threat. The only solution, extinction...This puts the Avengers through tough trials and dangers that will push them to the breaking point, forcing them to work together to take down an opponent that may very well bring about the end of humanity.

As you guessed it, it throws you right into the action with only a handful of scenes with downtime for you to process the situation and character development of the team. It does move at a brisk pace which is good for the mainstream audience and it engages in all the right spots emotionally and to the overall narrative structure to move the story along. The recurring characters Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) get some needed development that fleshes out their personas and actions more satisfyingly than in the previous Avengers film with their back story and lives put on display in this film. The main, recurring cast of heroes are just as likable and wonderfully in sync with each other as the last adventure with Iron Man, Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) giving great banter and chemistry with each other thanks to the sharp writing from Joss Whedon and the commendably spirited performances from the main cast. This leaves very little room for character development for the new members of the team, leaving them out in the wind to be nothing more the plot devices to be used at convenience making the film feel overflowing with story elements that are introduced in passing and dropped with little consequences to the main film itself.

This leads to the new cast of characters from the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) to Quicksilver (Aaron Johnson) as the new kids on the block along with the next attempt to blend the cosmic and Earth Marvel stories with the creation of Vision (Paul Bettany) by Korean scientist Helen Cho (Claudia Kim). For the most prominent new additions, they are utilized sufficiently for the action set pieces with Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver but the laughable Russian accents and lack of personality in the writing and direction of their characters makes them very insignificant for the majority of the story. Helen Cho is another character that plays only one crucial role to the plot outside of eye candy and catering to the growing Asian audience but is given very little to establish her character in the grand scheme of things. The new character/hero Vision built from Jarvis might be the only character to really receive a proper introduction and enough development to make his role matter in the story as well as scoring the most amazing, crowd pleasing moments in the film.

While these characters are either functional in the action sequences or underdeveloped as characters, it is the main villain that will garner the most praise and criticism performance wise. Ultron himself is perhaps the most powerful villain to date that the team has to face but he is also another unremarkable generic one-note character that only serves to be a nuisance to the heroes. The best way to describe his portrayal in this film is a mechanized lite version of Loki with his jokey attitude and over the top actions to rule the world. Not only was this a distracting element to the film outside of the light comedic tone of the film in odd places, it really diminished his threatening demeanor as a character and killed the tension of the action sequences particularly the last 40-50 minutes finale action extravaganza. Spader gives Ultron a rich, humorous character in his performance but it undercuts the intense action and supposed drama of the set pieces and story overall.

There is only one more element of the story and characters to be discussed and that is the overall tone of the film along with the major character developments that take up most of the runtime.  It was mentioned earlier that there is a ton of bantering and one liners throughout the entire film and while it is well done for the first half of the film, it eventually gets annoying and is used to hide the inability and lack of time to really develop the characters themselves or with each other meaningfully.  There are some cringe worthy dialogue that sprouts from this problem as well as a romantic subplot between Banner and Natasha that I felt was forced, contrived, and completely left field to their characters which means Banner must have moved on from his main love interest (comic book wise and previous solo film), Betty Ross. There is also a health dose of character development for Hawkeye A.K.A. Clint Barton who represents the rational component of the team and is proven to be an invaluable ally to the Avengers, justifying his role in the team thanks to the passionate writing gone into fleshing him out.  It has to be stated that the film is comedic and kid-friendly overall with very little hints of dark elements that might have been present in the advertisements and/or supposed cut footage of the film which does make the action and drama of the film lack any sense of danger or conflict needed to be engaging for the viewers to care but it doesn't accomplished this at all with the questionable direction taken with the film but it is still entertaining to watch.  The gist of this criticism is that you get more of everything that worked in the first film but the same issues with plot and character development are still present and detrimental to the quality of the film overall with plot lines that won't get developed until the next films and a huge set of characters that have very little breathing spaces to be memorable in this thinly plotted yet fan service overload of a film.

If there is one area that the film does excel in spades, it is the action sequences throughout the film which are epic, vibrantly shot, and hard-hitting when you can see it and the editing is on point with the rhythmic flow of the characters abilities.  This is where is truly feels like a comic book come to life on the big screen with all of the heroes displaying their skills and powers with gusto and confidence that will no doubt satisfy even the most jaded of comic book fans.  The standout of these sequences happens to be the one in the middle between the Hulk and Iron Man in the Hulkbuster with the creative use of the environment and technology along with skills to make it one of the most exhilarating battles as well as the most cohesive fight to see in the film.  There are about five major set pieces including that battle with a couple of skirmishes in between that fill up most of the run time with a combination of CGI, VFX, and special effects to bring this kind of action from the page to the big screen successfully all of which have moments of fan boy cheerful moments that will bring out the inner comic book fan in you.  That does not mean the action set pieces are all but flawless in their execution within the film.

Throughout the opening assault on the Hydra Base led by Baron Von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann), different action set pieces throughout South Africa, and the last battle in Sokovia, the action is so frantic and chaotic that it was hard to discern which heroes was fighting the enemy clearly on a geographic level as heroes disappear in and out of the battle to highlight their capabilities which isn't helped by the shoddy editing at times.  This problem with clarity and consistency in the action is more present in the finale with the entire cast involved in the conflict and the editor is desperately giving enough screen time to showcase these heroes in action.  Otherwise, they are still choreographed and framed clearly enough to follow along to the majority of the set pieces as well as being purely fun to watch the mayhem take place on a base level of expectations.  Every hero at least gets one cool moment of action from the leads to the supporting cast themselves although the only gripe with that is that for some reason The Falcon (Anthony Mackie) is not present for the battle while War Machine (Don Cheadle) is the only backup they receive on the outside other than other prominent side characters from other Marvel films (what is that all about?).  Despite those oddities in the action sequences, they are visually mesmerizing and reliably fun to watch just as in the first film.

The other technical aspects of this film are both impressive and quite forgettable in their contributions to the overall production but they are worth mentioning only to give compliments and criticizing the unsung teams behind making this film.  The art direction is relatively good in that the sets are put together nicely, filled with such little details in the craftsmanship to each lab, underground base, and exotic places the Avengers end up in.  There has to be some compliments given to the costume design team for really nailing the look for most of the heroes as well as the character design of Ultron and the digital/live interpretation of Vision.  That is the stunning visual achievement of the the costume and Makeup for this film in the design of Vision as he instills the classic look of the original designs of the comic counterpart with the proper modern touch ups to really make him come to life and quite frankly one of the few exciting surprises of the film. Unfortunately, the score is quite lackluster even with Danny Elfman major variation on the Avengers theme from Alan Silvestri as it only functions to be background noise for the action hitting accordingly to the crowd pleasing moments and move the action along without really standing out from the rest of the film.

This is the most difficult part of criticism in that the separation of being a fan and a filmmaker can be a very thin line to cross in regards to critiquing moments or properties of pop culture.  However, the belief of truth and honesty must be at least a part of any form of analysis whether we like it or not, otherwise we cannot inspire any meaningful changes in any shape and/or form of art.  This is a point that I felt obligated to bring up as it means having to be critical and honest with my thoughts about this film no matter how much of a fan I am of this genre but with an eye for what works in film-making.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron is ultimately an enjoyable, fun adventurous blockbuster sequel that has more of the same qualities of the first film that worked but also some of the same issues if not more that bring it down to being a decent yet disjointed, uneventful entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  The film delivers on the action set pieces in more ways than one, the character interactions and dynamics are fantastic from the writing to the cast, Vision is the most memorable new character from the cast that gets enough development and cool moments to matter in the main plot, and it does feel bigger and epic in quite a few aspects from the action to the technical elements of sets, costume, and makeup teams.  To put it simply with what didn't work, it completely ignores all of the previous solo films and their character developments, the story gets some much needed character development but not enough to generate interest or emotional investment in the old and new characters to the team, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were really uninteresting, forgettable characters that were only there as plot devices to instill emotional moments and move the plot forward, Ultron is a relatively funny, captivating character but non-threatening as well as an under-powered joke of a villain, and the banter/humor are enjoyable but gets annoying in the intense, world destructive battles that kills the tension of the action constantly.

It is still worth a trip to the theater as it is an enjoyable ride going into it but like all rides, you have your fun on it and eventually it fades away with only the faint remembrance of what might have made it worth the ride in the first place.

Overall: *** out of *****

This is a sequel that gives you the same ingredients you loved the first time over again but it has now lost its flavor a bit and isn't quite as good as you remembered.  The action sequences are flashy, bombastic, and everything a comic book fan wants out of a superhero team film along with a terrific group dynamic between the cast of characters overall.  However, the general lack of threat from the jokey Ultron as well as the unremarkable performances from the new characters (with the exception of Vision) made the action beats have no tension to them as well as being disjointed near the end in all the wrong ways.  It is a film that hits its marks where it counts and under-delivers where it could have been great film akin to "Iron Man" and/or "Captain America: The Winter Soldier". It is a fun superhero film that will be great now but only time will tell if it has any staying power months after its release.